Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[b12njoy2010]

April 9, 2010

Dear Best Buy,

On April 8, 2010 my family visited your store in Glendora, California to replace the 42" Samsung DLP television that after much inconvenience and frustration was officially declared a "lemon".

Best Buy no longer carries televisions that are "comparable" to a 42" Samsung DLP. We should have received a voucher for the original purchase price of $1,349.99, which does not include taxes and the $400 we paid for our warranty.

Initially, we were only given a $500 credit. After expressing my disappointment to your Store Manager the credit was $999.99. I was steadfast that we should receive the voucher for the original purchase price, however after constant back and forth between two home theater associates and the Store Manager I used the $999.99 credit and actually had to pay another $100 plus tax and recycling fee (recycling fee was supposed to have been included at no additional charge) to cover the difference on the television we took home.

I felt intimidated and pressured to take the $999.99 credit because I was told on several occasions that if I insisted on getting a voucher for the original purchase price that they would get "written up" and it would negatively impact their standing as a Best Buy employees. I don't take the threat of someone losing their job lightly, in fact my own husband has been unemployed for over a year. I am living that heartache and financial burden first hand. I was offended when this issue was taken into "personal" territory.

I feel I have a very reasonable request that is within the bounds of the extended warranty I paid $400 for. I am requesting a $350 Best Buy credit to reflect the difference between the $999.99 credit I received and the amount of the original purchase price of $1349.99 I should have received.

Thank you for your time and effort.

We look forward to your prompt response

[JoshSB]

WOW.

I am sorry to hear that happened, that is most definitely unacceptable.

One of the Community Connectors will be along shortly to assist you with this issue.

That being said, normally when there is no comparable product in-store for the customer the original price is indeed put onto a Store Credit card.

However, if there is something in comparable specs, then that would be considered the replacement and anything more would be required to pay the difference.

Again, I would like to express my apologizes since this most definitely does not seem right or legit.

Hope it all goes well, and I hope you have a better weekend =)

P.S. They won't get to your post until Monday due to CR being shut down on the weekends.

~ Josh

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hello b12njoy2010 -

Allan, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your patience until he is able to contact you.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi b12njoy2010,

After a less than enjoyable repair experience, I’m sure you were even more upset by this replacement of your TV. Hopefully I can shed some additional light on this matter, and provide you a resolution to your issue if at all possible.

It is true that if your service plan replaces your TV the store processing the replacement should offer a TV that at minimum meets the specifications of the TV being replaced. This means that this store at minimum should offer a TV that is at least has a 42 inch screen, is a DLP TV, and has a maximum resolution that at least equals the TV being replaced.

The original purchase price is should not be taken into consideration when determining what is a comparable TV. You are correct that if we determine that we no longer sell any products that are comparable to the one being replaced the store should be issuing a store credit in the amount of the original purchase price. I will be honest that this is very rare, and really only comes into play when we stop selling a type of product altogether.

We actually still sell four different models of DLP televisions, and the store should have offered one of these models as a replacement for yours. The fact that the price of the comparable TV changed, and did so drastically, is definitely concerning.

I would like to personally look into this to make sure this was processed properly, and to offer what assistance I can. I am sending you a private message to start that conversation. To check your messages you should log into the forum, and then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,

[b12njoy2010]

Update: No Solution

Best Buy left it up to the Store Manager that was the subject of my complaint to come up with a resolution. As shocking as it seems he has deemed me persona non grata.

Subsequently, I've passed along my concerns to BBB, my state AG, and others. Compared to other stories on this forum I consider myself lucky that I'm only out Best Buy funny money and $130.

However, it was not in vain because I have learned a valuable lesson about the GSBTP. Obviously, I didn't spend the extra $279.99 for the GSBTP this time. I am covered by the manufacturer for a year. I calculate that in a year, the wages I don't lose waiting for Best Buy to fix my TV plus the $279.99 in my pocket, will be enough to fix it on my own or totally replace it.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi All,

I wanted to update this thread since over time the terms and conditions of our service plans change. In the current terms and conditions of our service plans, that started on 9/29/2010, it does state "if we determine, in our sole discretion that your product cannot be repaired, we will replace it with a product of like kind and quality that is of comparable performance or reimburse you for replacement of the product with a voucher or gift card, at our discretion, equal to the current market value of the product, as determined by us, not to exceed the original purchase price of your product, including taxes".

Thanks,